services

«services» in Mova's school dictionary: Work done for people by someone, rather than goods made… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun, plural (services; singular a service)

meaning for a pupil

1) Work done for people by someone, rather than goods made (cleaning, hairdressing, banking). tree →

2) Systems that supply things everyone needs: water, electricity, buses, health care (public services). tree →

3) Emergency services: police, fire brigade, ambulance, coastguard. tree →

4) (UK) A place beside a motorway with fuel, food and toilets (motorway services). tree →

5) Religious ceremonies (church services). tree →

6) The armed forces (the services). tree →

sense in the lessons

In social studies and economics, «goods and services» describe what people buy and sell; jobs like doctors and teachers provide services. In safety lessons, you call the emergency services in an emergency. On road trips in the UK you stop at the services. In computing, online services are apps and websites. Phrases: emergency services, public services, goods and services, social services, at your service, motorway services.

examples

• Police, fire and ambulance are the emergency services. tree →
• Hairdressers and plumbers sell services, not goods. tree →
• We stopped at the motorway services for a snack. tree →
• The town pays for services like libraries and bin collections. tree →
• There are two church services every Sunday. tree →
• Grandpa was in the services when he was young. tree →
• The internet company offers many online services. tree →

note

Singular: a service. «Goods» are things you can touch; «services» are work done for you. «At your service» means «I'm ready to help you» (polite, old-fashioned).

In the corpora

• Families visit graves, send cards, mark the anniversary, hold memorial services and even put up benches with little plaques.
• Most people accept tax as the price of public services; they argue about how much and what it is spent on.
• Streaming services have huge libraries, and too much choice can make people scroll for ages without choosing.
• "Streamlining" means cutting jobs or services.
• In the UK and Ireland, 112 also reaches the emergency services.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «services» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.